Adult Criminal Careers, Michigan: 1974-1977 (ICPSR 8279)

Principal Investigator(s):
Blumstein, Alfred;
Cohen, Jacqueline

Summary:

These data, taken from the computerized criminal history
files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were collected to develop
estimates of the extent and variation of individual offending. Included
are the adult criminal records of individuals 17 years of age and older
arrested in Michigan from 1974 to 1977. The primary criterion for
inclusion in the sample was at least one arrest in Michigan for murder,
rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, or auto theft. Once
sampled, the arrest history includes data on all recorded arrests
through 1977, regardless of offense type. The full dataset includes
records for 41,191 individuals for a total of 200,007 arrests. The
dataset is organized by individual and includes demographic
characteristics of the individual (birth date, state of birth, sex, and
race) followed by information from the individual's arrest record in
chronological order. The arrest records include the date of arrest, the
offenses charged, the disposition (convicted, dismissed, or acquitted),
and the sentence. Because the data are organized by individual, they
are suitable for longitudinal analyses of individual offending patterns
over time.

These data, taken from the computerized criminal history
files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were collected to develop
estimates of the extent and variation of individual offending. Included
are the adult criminal records of individuals 17 years of age and older
arrested in Michigan from 1974 to 1977. The primary criterion for
inclusion in the sample was at least one arrest in Michigan for murder,
rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, or auto theft. Once
sampled, the arrest history includes data on all recorded arrests
through 1977, regardless of offense type. The full dataset includes
records for 41,191 individuals for a total of 200,007 arrests. The
dataset is organized by individual and includes demographic
characteristics of the individual (birth date, state of birth, sex, and
race) followed by information from the individual's arrest record in
chronological order. The arrest records include the date of arrest, the
offenses charged, the disposition (convicted, dismissed, or acquitted),
and the sentence. Because the data are organized by individual, they
are suitable for longitudinal analyses of individual offending patterns
over time.

Access Notes

The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

In this hierarchical data file, there are two record
types. Record 1 contains person record information, with 6 variables
and 41,191 records. Record 2 provides arrest cycle information, with 52
variables and 200,007 records.

Methodology

Sample:
Individuals with at least one arrest in Michigan for
murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, or auto theft.

Data Source:

criminal history files of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: